I had a heart attack!.....day after New Year's, after having the entire family here for turkey dinner. I knew I shouldn't have eaten such a big helping of stuffing, with gravy!

so....thanks to the wonders of modern medicine, I was whisked away by ambulance to surgery, had a 4.5 hour open heart surgery, where they sawed through my breastbone, took a vein out of my leg, and re-routed 3 blocked arteries.

Amazing! I should be dead now, at age 65.5......but oh so glad to be alive. Luckily, my heart wasn't damaged at all, and if I'm a good girl, follow a stricter diet (no more white breand 'n butter sandwiches); walk 30 to 60 mins per day, I should live a long while yet.

So glad to be back from the almost-dead.

GrumpyGramma

01-13-2013, 10:35 AM

That's too scary. I'm so glad you are here! Take care of yourself.

suzeeq

01-13-2013, 11:00 AM

Glad to see you back! Very happy that you're here TO be back!

Jan in CA

01-13-2013, 02:07 PM

Wow! So glad to have you here Woodi! :hug:

ETA- and yes, it is scary! I was 57 and when they announced after the EKG 'acute MRI' I told them "I'm too young" which we all know is not true, but it felt it at the time. Mine turned out to be something rare called Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy. All heart issues are terrifying.

I hope you're starting to feel better now!

insanenewknitter

01-14-2013, 10:21 AM

So glad that you are here, back, and doing better!

Had I been about 30 years older, I would have thought I was having a heart attack just a couple days after you! After two trips to the ER, I found out it was only costochondritis. (Not really an "only" when you are the one with it, but an "only" next to a heart attack.;) )

So glad you're still with us! And what a frightening experience! You're certainly packing in all the excitement at the beginning of the year. No need to spread it out, right?

I hope you're feeling better after your surgery. And, yes, by all means, please take care of yourself!

Ronda

01-15-2013, 08:00 AM

Glad you're still here! Take care of yourself!

DavidSydney63

01-22-2013, 04:47 PM

75% of Americans are either overweight, obese or morbidly obese. There is a simple solution, it just takes will power.

My wonderful partner lost 40 kgs (88.2 pounds) over the last year, this is what he did:

Stopped eating the following:

bread
rice
pasta
potato

Increased eating vegetables and fresh meat/fish.

He also exercises regularly.

This all takes will power - and most of us simply don't have it.

mojo11

01-22-2013, 05:07 PM

Stopped eating the following:

bread
rice
pasta
potato

No more sushi? Fuhgeddabouddit! I'll take my chances.

But seriously, 40kgs is about half my body weight, so that's quite a feat. :yay:

Jan in CA

01-22-2013, 05:37 PM

Sushi...ick...I'll leave the bait to the fishermen. :teehee:

mojo11

01-22-2013, 05:50 PM

Sushi...ick...I'll leave the bait to the fishermen. :teehee:

Well... "sushi" actually refers to the type and preparation of the rice, not what comes along with it. There's vegetarian sushi for the squeamish, and even the items that involve fish/shellfish aren't necessarily raw (spider roll for example).

But I'm perfectly content to just plop a chuck of bluefin tuna on a ball of sushi rice ,a little ginger, soy and wasabi and... ahh... :happydance:

suzeeq

01-22-2013, 06:08 PM

Sashimi is raw fish; sushi is/are rice rolls and doesn't have to have any fish in it at all ord you can even make it with canned tuna.

Jan in CA

01-22-2013, 07:13 PM

I do t know the difference so I usually just avoid it. I like my salmon on the grill. ;)

suzeeq

01-22-2013, 07:23 PM

Mmmmm... grilled salmon... mmmm.

salmonmac

01-22-2013, 09:40 PM

Woodi, so glad you're back and doing well. Wonderful to hear from you and all the best as you recover. Isn't walking great?

And did someone say salmon?

mojo11

01-23-2013, 11:22 AM

Make mine tuna, thanks. I like salmon just fine, but Mmmm... I love me some tuna.

Woodi

01-29-2013, 10:31 AM

Gee, I hadn't checked back here in days (or weeks?) and am so happy to see so many people responded. Thanks everyone! I have been feeling so very alone since friendly neighbours stopped coming by. It was curious to discover how many friendly people were concerned about my adventure. Many wanted to know "what does a heart attack feel like?"

and now the weather is keeping me housebound, except for short daily walks up and down the hilly roads. Nothing much to see out the windows but snow and some wildlife (we feed deer and birds, just to watch them). Here is one particular cutie who stares into the house windows, hoping we'll come out with seeds.

http://www.soapmaker.ca/SoapPics/One%20Deer%20stares.JPG

and these two are curiously following my DH as he walks out with some buckets of feed.

http://www.soapmaker.ca/SoapPics/twoDeer%20watch%20Crawf.JPG

I'm glad that I have knitting.....but seem to be unable to actually make any headway with it lately.....my brain seems fuzzy, maybe due to all the drugs.
I do believe that the anaesthetic has finally left my body, as that dull, horrid : "I should be dead" thought is now gone.....{shiver}.

I hear ya all about losing weight, and have been eating very sparsely for 3 weeks now. Getting real tired of stir fry though. I have a pork tenderloin waiting to be cooked for today's meals, and lots of veggies, and quinoa.

I sure miss salt though.

Jan in CA

01-29-2013, 02:38 PM

Woodi! What do you mean nothing much to look at!? I've seen your pics before and I'd love it if I had that to look at. It looks so peaceful. Those deer are adorable how they watch and wait. :thumbsup:

salmonmac

01-30-2013, 06:48 AM

Your pictures are beautiful!
Yes, not the easiest time of year to get out and around. The daily walks are a wonderful idea. It just takes time to feel completely right after all you've gone through. Sometimes you don't realize it until you can look back and get a measure of how much time it took. Glad you're doing so well. Good thoughts and best wishes from all your friends here.

Antares

01-30-2013, 09:47 AM

Woodi,

Thanks for sharing the gorgeous pictures of the critters! So cute (and tasty, too). My husband is a hunter, and this year he could not find any deer on our property out in the country. However, one day he found deer sign (okay, poop) all over our yard at our house on the edge of town (where we're not allowed to hunt). Go figure! Those smartie-pants deer!

Be careful trudging up and down and around your gorgeous snow-covered landscape. You most certainly don't need a fall on top of all you've already been through.

Woodi

01-30-2013, 04:33 PM

Thanks for the reminders that my view IS interesting.....when it's all you see every day, ya can get jaded....

today we are having a meltdown. But snow and cold is returning tomorrow, and all next week.

http://www.soapmaker.ca/SoapPics/melt%20view.JPG

and surprise of surprises: a beaver has come out from under the ice and has been harvesting small trees in our backyard.

http://www.soapmaker.ca/SoapPics/snow%20beav.JPG

We don't usually see beavers out in the snow. This guy is becoming a nuisance, and DH is out there now, wrapping a few trees in heavy guage chicken wire, to keep them from falling on the house.

Jan in CA

01-30-2013, 05:02 PM

Wow! Is that your own pond/lake? Even if he is a nuisance it's pretty cool to see a beaver! I've only seen them in zoos. The only wildlife we see are the occasional coyote, raccoons, and possums. Life in the suburbs of large metro areas has its good points, but many bad ones, too.

GrumpyGramma

01-30-2013, 05:05 PM

You have such cool photos. I'll trade my view of apartment buildings and streets for yours any day.

Woodi

01-30-2013, 07:33 PM

Yes, Jan, this is our backyard pond. We don't own all of it unfortunately. We only have 7 acres of land. Our neighbour to the left of us actually owns the land under 2/3rds of this pond, but he also owns a hundred acres more, closer to his own house. He has promised to not interfere with our beavers, as we like having some around.